The absolute majority of all vehicles in the world today are run on fluid fuel. Filling up the tank with today's fuel prices is rather costly. This has unfortunately lead to an increasing number of people simply not paying for the fuel and just running off once the tank is filled up.
In Sweden alone over 46 000 fuel thefts are committed every year costing the station owners more than 55 million Swedish SEK. Though fuel prices may be considered high for the customer, the actual earning per unit sold fuel is rather low. For every stolen full tank, it takes between 7-9 full fuelling to make up the loss for the theft. In many cases, the station owner also must pay taxes for the stolen fuel.
Seeing this increasing problem, numerous solutions have been tried out. The most common one is to prepay the fuel, either cash or by swiping a credit card. This may solve the fuel theft problem, but has the major drawback that the customer doesn't at any point have to go inside the station. If the customer doesn't have to enter the station to pay for the fuel, the chance of him going inside just to buy something else is decreasing severely. As the earnings on the fuel itself aren't particularly high, it is essential for any station owner also to sell other products, i.e. snacks, beverages, newspapers, etc.
Another way to try and solve the theft problem is to lock the nozzle to the vehicles tank as can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,962,177. In this patent, retractable locking wedges comes out from the fuel nozzle spout and engaging under the fuel tanks restrictor area once the system is being pressurized by the fuel being pumped.
This system has a rather complicated structure with 3 sets of springs, sliding arms, rotating locks, diaphragm, locking sleeves, ratcheting members that should grip in the correct position and a ball for pushing said ratcheting member.
To unlock the wedges from the car, it is said that the station attendee should apply a momentary pressure with a penny's worth of gas on to the diaphragm. Not only does this mean that there is an increased risk of spilling the fuel, but also that the unlocking actually can be done by the person filling the tank himself.
Another drawback with such a complicated system, with several moving parts, is of course the increased risk for something malfunctioning. Such a complex system also has a high manufacturing and maintenance cost involved.
Another way to try to lock the nozzle to the vehicles tank may be seen in patent WO03074416. This mechanical solution involves a specialized pump, connections means for controlling said pump and a flexible elongated element, extending along the hose, between the pump unit and the specialized dispenser and nozzles. This elongated element is connected to a device at the end of the nozzle and this device is caused to take an active or deactivate position depending the elongated elements action. The elongated element is controlled by means associated with the pump and these means are being controlled, via a cable, from a cash desk or a checkout counter. A major drawback with this solution is that to be able to use such a system specialized pumps with control means, hoses with elongated elements, data transfer cables, specialized dispensers with nozzles all have to be installed at the pump station. Another drawback is that the elongated element is running along the hose which is constantly being pulled, twisted and turned. The rough handling increases the risk of a malfunctioning system which is leading to higher maintenance costs.
A system that allows a station attendee to control the release of the spout as well as a system that may be implemented to fueling stations without having to rebuild its entire set up and a system that is more cost efficient to produce and a system with a decreased risk for hazardous spills would therefore be of great benefit to the fueling industry.